freedom
by The Neon Catz
Summary: In which journeys and romance novels are discussed, Kumiko runs down a lot of stairs, and Reina enjoys sitting on roofs. (NeonClan contest entry)


note: this is the second time i've written the first kiss for these two, probably not the last time either

another note: this was originally posted on not a straight trumpet but has been also posted here by the author in order to submit it to a contest

"Hey," Kumiko said. Reina nearly jumped in surprise and fixed her purple eyes on her bandmate. "I, uh, didn't think that anyone else would be up here," the girl admitted. Reina continued to stare. "I guess I was wrong." Reina nodded. "So, what're you doing up here?"

"Reading," Reina responded, holding up the book next to her for emphasis. "It's quiet up here. You can see a lot of the city." Kumiko looked down. The lights flickered and glowed.

"You sure do love high places, don't you?" Kumiko chuckled, remembering that night on the mountain. It had been unbelievable and strange and wonderful. There were times when Kumiko wondered if it had been a dream. Reina shrugged in response.

"I can see everything from here," Reina murmured. "The buildings, the cars, the people. It's all very monotonous, don't you think?" It was Kumiko's turn to shrug.

"Well, maybe that's what it's supposed to be, y'know?" Kumiko said. "It's a city with a bunch of buildings and a bunch of people. There's not much more to it then that."

"But shouldn't there be?" Reina wondered.

"Like what?"

"..." Reina remained silent. The two girls stared at each other for a few seconds. Kumiko noticed the faint wind blowing through the nighttime air, slightly ruffling her clothes. "Some kind of purpose," Reina finally said. "Something _more_. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

"You want to become special," Kumiko began. "You...you want to do something extraordinary, like a character in a book." She looked over at Reina's book, a fairly generic story for teenagers about falling in love. It wasn't anything quite as special as Reina was. Reina quietly put aside the book.

"Yeah." The silence returned.

"Hey, Reina," Kumiko murmured, breaking the silence as she shifted in her spot. "Would you . . . would you want to travel with me?"

"Hmm?"

"We could get on a train and travel, like you said you wanted. We could just pack a few things we needed, and bring our instruments, too, and we could just travel and see the world and play our instruments whenever we felt like it, and-" Reina stared at Kumiko in bewilderment as she made several gestures with her hands. "-And we could go to little diners on the highway and go to famous landmarks, or boring landmarks if that's what you want, y'know, we could just go to little places where other people don't go, sorta like this rooftop or that mountain!"

"You're delusional, Kumiko," Reina chuckled.

"Hey, you were the one who was talking about how boring this place is and everything!" Kumiko yelped, weakly attempting to defend herself.

"Do you really think we could do it?" Reina murmured. "Just leave? We still have school, we still have futures."

"Of course we could do it!" Kumiko responded, standing up and looking at the landscape below. "It'd be an _adventure_ , Reina, an extraordinary adventure and it'll just be the two of us, without Hazuki or Midori or Shuichi or _anyone_ , just us, and we'll learn about each other and it'll be great, wouldn't it?" Kumiko's voice was beginning to falter. "We'll be like the characters in that book, see? Listen, uh . . ." Kumiko picked up the book and flipped to a random page, hands trembling. "' _And as the lights flickered by, the two young lovers shared a kiss-_ ' ah, darnit, not like that, I mean if you wanted to we could, of course, y'know, I've always liked you and all, but I didn't . . ." Kumiko trailed off as she realized what she had just said. Reina's violet orbs pierced Kumiko's, her expression revealing nothing.

Kumiko suddenly ran towards the stairwell, still holding the book. _Why did I do that, why did I do that?_ she thought as she continued running. She noticed a pair of footsteps besides her own pattering down the stairs, and Kumiko turned around as she reached the final step, only to be met with Reina's slightly bewildered expression.

"I didn't know you could run that fast," Reina said flatly.

"W-why did you follow me?" Kumiko yelped. _This is it, isn't it, she's gonna say she hates me and doesn't want to be my friend anymore because I'm gross and creepy and horrible and-_

"The book," Reina interrupted Kumiko's thoughts and pointed to said book. "You're still holding it." Kumiko let out a frightened squeak and handed the book back to Reina. Kumiko started to slink away before Reina began talking.

"So, you wanted to go on a trip?" she began, stroking the cover of the book. Kumiko stiffened. "It's not a bad idea. The freedom, especially. Nobody telling us what to do. We wouldn't have to deal with our parents, or our teachers, or Taki-sensei . . ."

"I thought you liked him!" Kumiko responded before thinking about what she had said. 'I should probably just keep my mouth shut, shouldn't I?' Reina let out a peculiar laugh. Kumiko waited for an answer, but it never came.

"You really are a terrible person, Kumiko."

". . ."

"Reina?"

". . ."

"Yeah?"

". . ."

There weren't any fireworks that went off, no trumpets sounding in the distance to sing the tales of this small first kiss. It was simple and strange and awkward and wonderful. It was just two girls, a forgotten novel lying at their feet, and the starry night sky. Kumiko felt her hands running through Reina's hair as Reina held her close and their lips continued to dance to this weird song of first love. Neither girl knew who was the first to break away, but they were still holding hands when they were standing apart.

It wasn't quite as extraordinary as the love stories in the books, it wasn't quite as free as the idea of a trip, but it was theirs and it was something that both girls knew was more precious then any tall tale or journey.


End file.
